Rodent destroyer



April 6 1926.

F. L. BUSHONG RODENT DESTROYER Filed Nov. 4, 1924 Patented Apr. e, 1925.

1 U NITEQS1TATES PA NT OFFICE FRANK LEE BUSHONGLOE'GHARLES m waste vmeiivm. .1

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Application fildNowimber 1 92 4, Serial No. 747,845.

To all 10710711, it may conceit t." 1 I 7v Be itknown that I, lTRANi; BUSH'QNG, i1 citizen ot' the United States, residing-at Charles Town, iirtho county' of Jefferson and State of est Virginiz' have ini V certain new and useful- Im rove ents in :lodent Destroyers, of which lille' 'fo llowilig is a specification. I T

Thepresent invention, relates to rodent destroyers, and is designed to hold a poison or poisonedffood in a positionaccessiblc to the animals to be destroyed and out of reach of other animals, towls, and the like.

Objects of the invention are the pro? vision of a device of. this character which canabe' used as container ton-poison or: poisoned tood, wh ch will rest: in stable equilibrium on the ground 'without additional supporting structure, will 'pre've1it the poisoned foodfrom spilling out, uponthe ground, will afford easy access'to said food, and which at the same time will preserve' the poisoned food contained therein in a dry and be used to destroy rats, squirrels and other animals of like nature. The deviceis not designed as a trap but merely as a holder for poison or poisoned .food and is'made of lass or other suitable'material.

Bait holders of this character in order to beeflective, must allow the ready escape of the animal after he has eaten ofthe poisoned food, in order that the destruction of these pests may be continuous.

Each holder constitutes a poison station to which mice and the like may resort and from which they may'depart at will after eating of the poison, with the result that the passageway to the bait remains unstopped. The holder'is preferably made of glass or'other transparent-material so that rodents maysee the bait in approaching from all directions and in order that an attendant may observe the condition of the positionfon the ground. Y a In the drawings wlnchfrepresent one embodiment of the invention,'

I bait without dislodging the holderiroin its I v 60 Figure 1 is a perspective view of the bait holder on an enlarged scale, showing the.

same anchored in. position witl'i' poisoned food in. the containing cu'p'or pocket.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional View of the baitholder on a reduced scale.

F 3 is a bottom plan view. Fig. 4 1s a front elevation. r I .Referrnig to the drawings in deta l by reference numerals, the same numerals designating the same parts in all views, '10

is a tubular passageway having a bait pocketv 11 formed 'at;, the rear end thereof. The" passageway is constructed with a flat 'bottom1f12-constituting a runway which slopes. 1 gradually upwardfrom the. entrance opening 13;--at the front end of. the device toa,

ridge I11- constituting the-divide between the runway and the pocket. The bottom of the pocket slopes rearwa'rdlydownward abruptly fro this lineascompared with the slope of the runway, to form the pocket at the same time not sufficiently abrupt to form an easily breakable shoulder or bend. The bot tom of the pocket is roundedto'further avoid liability to-breakage and bends rearwardly upward from its lowermost point merging 1n the rear wall 15 which, closes that end of the holder. The pocket is not spherical in shapebut constitutes in general a semi-cylinder having its axis lying trans- V versely to the'axls of the passageway, so 7 that when the device is placed on the ground, it'may rest on the bead 17 extending transversely across the bottom'of the runway near the front end andson the lowermost part of the pocket, in stable e'quilib rium, without the assistance of any auxiliary device, and owing'to the weightot the.

material ofwhich it'is made cannot be overturned or dislodged from the position in which it was set, by small animals, as chickens, cats and the like.

To further insure the device against -dislodgment, a wicket-'18 maybe provided having crimps 19 formed therein and adaptedto' be sprung under the bottom of the holder at the division between'the runway and pocket.

This wicket is provided at its ends with prongs 20 adaptedto be projected into the grounds As indicated above the preferred embodi v ment of the present invention is made oli glass and its simplicity of constructhm insures cheapness of manuti'acture, and reduces the liability to breaiiage' in shipment and in use. The device is free of all abrupt projections or constrictions and may be blown in a single operation. It provides a gradual flat slope to the runway peri'nitting the animals to pass each other in the passageway, and the interior is free of all obstructions that would hinder or discourage an animal. in its ingress or egress. By 'irtue of the fact that the device is adapted to rest flat on the ground with the runway sloping upward, danger of fowls and animals larger than those for which the bait is being set being able to obtain access to the bait, is eliminated. It also insures against their being able t holder to any posi ion in which such access can be obtained. The slope of the runway also prevents water from coming into contact with the bait, thereby spoiling the same and rendering it ineffective.

Having described the invention what is claimed is:

1. An animal exterminator consisting of a 'tubular passageway open at one end and closed at the other having a flat sloping bottom constituting a runway and a bait pocket communicating with the passageway at the upper end of the runway.

2. An animal exterminator, consisting of a tubular transparent passageway open at one end and closed at the other, said passageway having a flat gradually upwardly sloping bottom constituting a runway, a bait pocket communicating with said pas sageway at the upper end of said runway.

3. An animal exterminator, consisting of a tubular t'ansparent passageway open at one end and closed at the other, said passageway having a flat gradually upwardly sloping bottom constituting a runway, a bait pocket communicating with saii passageway at the upper end of said runway, said pocket being substantially sen'ii-cylindrical in shape and having its axis lying at right angles to the axis of the passageway.

4. An animal exterminator consisting of a tubular passageway open at one end and closed at the other, said passageway having a flat bottom constitutin a runway, a bulge at the closed end of the passageway, the walls of which slope gradually from the bottom of the passageway, said bulge being substantially semi-cylindrical in shape and having its axis at right angles to the axis of the passageway, a rib on the bottom of the passageway in parallelism with said axis, said rib and the bottom of the pocket being adapted to support the holder in stable equilibrium with the I runway gradually sloping upward.

In testimony whereof I altix my signa ture.

FRANK LEA BUSHONG. 

